Jul 30
Pastor Moses loves speaking in Christianese as it is guaranteed to make him look spiritual; in fact, by using Christianese he can even turn his laziness into a positive spiritual statement. Wow, amazing stuff; no wonder we speaks it fluently.
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For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17
When Paul made this bold statement that now, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, a righteousness from God had been revealed, he didn’t mean that it was revealed through his ideas or thoughts. Paul did not make the gospel up! It’s true that he received a divine revelation of Christ, but then, with the knowledge of Christ that came through the Spirit, it enabled him to finally see the truth in the Scriptures – for now he could see Jesus, and to Paul’s amazement, he realised he could find the testimony of the life and accomplishments of Jesus in every Scripture.
The good news of God’s grace, the new covenant and a righteousness by faith had always been testified to, but, without the revelation of Jesus and the full reality of what his death and resurrection accomplished for us, it had always remained a mystery. As Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians:
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 2 Corinthians 3:12-16
Without the light of Christ, we all continue to read the Old Testament as if it were veiled of it’s true meaning and intention, but now that we are in Christ, that veil has been removed and we can clearly see the story of Jesus and the message of God’s righteousness that is given as a gift, and not earned by our own obedience to a written code, but rather through our acceptance of God’s Son.
When Paul made this bold statement about a righteousness by faith, he backed up his statement by quoting a scripture from the Old Testament; because when Paul looked at the Old Testament he saw the story of Jesus all through it. Jesus himself helped two of his disciples understand this Scriptural reality as he walked along the road to Emmaus with them. Luke records how Jesus opened up their eyes to see him in all the scriptures, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets.
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24:25-27
The truth is that whole bible testifies about Jesus and the grace that comes to us through him. The Scriptures were never given to help mankind understand how to live before God, but rather to reveal, and testify to, the life story of Jesus, his suffering and the grace that would be given to us through his resurrection.
How wonderful to know that God’s intention for the bible was not to give us a rule book, or a life-application-manual, but rather his desire was to give us a testimony to the Life in us, that is Christ in us, our hope of glory! Now, if the testimony is true, and Christ did everything the bible testifies to, and he now lives in us, then we can rest assured that God’s righteousness that comes by faith is already radically alive and active in us. We can rest in the truth of God’s good news, and be assured that God is working powerfully in and through us at the same time. Amen.
Feel free to leave a comment about his blog post below
Written by Mick Mooney
Life screams at us: “You ‘are not’ good enough!” … but God whispers to us: “My child, ‘I Am’ in love with you, and you’re someone special to me.”
Do you “like” this thought?
The world ranks us based on our success, wealth, race, nationality, beauty, intelligence and a hundred other principles…. God just has one way to rank us – Jesus. That’s why we are all equal in his eyes; Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ!
Sometimes I want to cry
But my tears stay repressed,
Refusing to move
Despite my protest
Sometimes I want to groan,
Scream words I detest
But my voice, she too fails me
Despite my request
Sometimes I want to sit down
But the world makes me stand
And so I keep marching
Despite my demands
And in these strange moments
Exposed as a fool
I know of just one person
Whom I can turn to
The King of the fools
The King of the weak
The King of the hurting
The King of the meek
The King who identifies
With those in their faults
And lifts their heads up,
The King who exalts
And so I’m exalted,
Yet not through my works
But through my King Jesus
Who heals my hurts
The King of the fools
The King of the weak
The King of the hurting
The King of the meek
And so I have hope
For my King never fails
To hold me through weakness
Till his strength prevails
The King of the saints
The King of the strong
The King of all grace
To whom I belong!
Written by Mick Mooney
It’s incredible that God found us to be worth so much to him personally, that he gave up his own life; dying for us, and then allowing us to be raised with him, so that we could be united with his life forever! God, who rules the heavens in all glory; who owns not only the whole world, but the whole universe, found us so significant in his eyes that he gave up all that he had in the heavens and came down to meet with us.
Why did he do that? It was because his heart yearned for more than a meeting with us, but a permanent relationship: he came to us, so that all of us could be taken back up to his eternal level in glory and live with him forever.
In light of what God has done for us, we can ask the question: “how much is our worth?” Well, for starters, we are worth so much to God that he has freely granted us to be his very own heirs; heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. That’s right, you’re not just going to go to heaven one day, you’re going to own it!
Even if your ‘works and worldly accomplishments’ try to signal to you that you’re worth little or nothing, God’s ‘finished work upon the cross’ signals to you that you are the most treasured possession that God has! You are worth more than all the treasures found within the expanse of the universe. You have so much value; there is quite literally nothing to measure it against except God himself, and how much value and worth does God have?!
If we try to understand our worth by looking at our works, we will quickly conclude we are quite worthless. For what have we really accomplished? However, when we seek to understand our worth by looking at Jesus, then we quickly conclude we are worth more than all the riches of this world.
Now, in light of this wonderful reality, we have the opportunity to look to one another in this same light. What your brothers and sisters in Christ have ‘accomplished’ for God, or in the world, does not define their worth, but rather it is the love Christ has for them defines their worth. All of us in Christ are worth so much, we all have a value that can only be compared to the very value of God himself, and we are all significant because Jesus found us significant enough to die for.
I’m glad we don’t need to try to judge one another in Christ and try to define each others worth or value based on each others ‘works’, but rather we base our opinion on the ‘grace’ that has been given to each of us. We have been made new in Christ, co-heirs with him, and God’s eternal treasured possession.
You are worth so much. I believe it because God believes it, and if God believes you’re significant, then I choose to see you with the same significance too. ~ Mick
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17
